Thinking Small for Big Results

By U.S. Representative Daniel Lipinski

 

In one promising economic sector, it is essential for Illinois to think small.  The field of nanotechnology - manufacturing based on manipulating individual atoms and molecules - could lead to revolutionary new products, and has the potential to transform many of our existing industries, from computers to communications to medical science. Thinking small has the potential to generate very big results for our state's economy.

 

This past spring, I worked with the Illinois Science & Technology Coalition to gather nearly 100 individuals to discuss strategies to advance a collaborative framework that keeps Illinois in the vanguard of the nanotechnology revolution.  This distinguished group included representatives from our universities, laboratories, and industries who have already made Illinois a national leader in science-based innovation.

 

The dialogue was exceptional, and there was common agreement that we need to update our public and private tool kit in order to turn cutting-edge research into new companies and 21^st century jobs. We need the investment capital, tax-strategies, and collaborative university-private partnerships that research and development-based entrepreneurs require.

 

For while the state and, indeed, the Midwest have been a hotbed of nanotechnology, other states and regions have awakened to the enormous possibilities of this field, and have actively started to recruit our firms and poach our talent. Illinois ranked a respectable eighth in Small Times magazine's 2007 ranking of state leaders in nanotechnology. Illinois also consistently ranks in the top 10 states for micro-technology commercialization, and near the very top for nanotech research and education. Yet it is not among the leaders for private investment in the sector. 

 

This disconnect must be rectified. We must do more to nurture early investment in order to create the next generation of manufacturing jobs and to ensure that the taxpayers are seeing real returns on the scientific research they fund. 

 

This is not to say Illinois has been inactive in spawning nanotech companies.  Just consider the names of several: Nanosphere, Nanophase Technologies, NanoInk and Nanotope.  These companies and others have helped Illinois rank No. 7 in high-tech employment, with 42 of every 1,000 private-sector workers in the state employed by high-tech firms.

 

I have been interested in the nanotech explosion and its vast potential for several years now.  Trained as an engineer, I am naturally drawn to new technologies and scientific avenues that can benefit Illinois and our entire country. Since being elected to Congress, I have been proud to serve on the Science and Technology Committee, where I chair the Research and Science Education Subcommittee, and have been an avid supporter of nanotech research and development.

 

This year, the House of Representatives has already passed a bill written by my subcommittee reauthorizing the National Nanotechnology Initiative and making 3 significant adjustments.  First, it strengthens the planning and implementation of research on the environmental, health, and safety aspects of nanotechnology, ensuring that possible unintended impacts of nanotech products will not defeat the enormous promise of this technology.  Second, the reauthorization bill requires the NNI to place increased emphasis on technology transfer; that is, moving basic research results out of the laboratory and into commercial products, materials, and devices.

Third, the bill creates new nanotechnology education programs to attract secondary school students to science and technology studies and to help prepare the nanotechnology workforce of tomorrow. 

 

Nanotech has the potential to reinvigorate our manufacturing base, both in Illinois and nationwide. We need to use our state's edge in research and innovation to grow companies whose superior products, materials, and technologies make them nationally and internationally competitive.  In a very big way, nanotechnology represents our future, and we can't delay in recognizing it and nurturing it - not for a nanosecond. 

 

Rep. Lipinski is an Illinois Congressman from the 3^rd District, representing Chicago's Southwest Side and southwest suburbs.  He is a member of three House Committees: Science and Technology, Transportation and Infrastructure, and Small Business.